Sigur Rós gets folky

In keeping with the trend of new music posts, I am currently digging the new single from Sigur Rós entitled "Gobbledigook." The single is available free for download on their website and the new album drops in June. This is definitely a new direction for these guys (think Animal Collective on Sung Tongs) and I hope they keep it up on the rest of the album. Something to look forward to for sure. I also highly recommend watching the video for the single which you can see at their website while you download the mp3.

Also the people over at Woxy have a complied this year's list of the 500 greatest modern rock songs. I guess modern rock covers quite the field of songs, but none the less this is a pretty good list. Very up to date with old classics and new indie anthems that should please the average moder rock fan. Anyway here is their top 10 and you can find the whole list here.
10. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
8. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
7. The Clash - London Calling
6. Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
5. R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
4. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
3. Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
2. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
1. Radiohead - Creep

Beck - "Chemtrails"

The first single has been released from the forth coming Danger Mouse produced Beck album (check it out). I think Beck is one of those artists that consistently release good music, but for some reason people don't get as into him as they should, or at least that's my feel towards him. I always seem to forget about him and I really shouldn't. The man has put out some amazing stuff throughout his career (and this track seems to lean towards more great stuff), but for some reason I keep him on the back burner of my playlists.
In other new music news I must admit that I feel like this year has been a little lack-luster. Nothing has come around that has blown me away like albums from last year. I realize that we're only about halfway through the year, but not much has really stuck with me. Aside from the new Portishead (which is currently atop my year list) only a handful of releases have really stuck with me. Vampire Weekend was an early front runner and is something that I still really dig. M83 put out another great record, but after that I have some slim pickings. Narrow Stairs is good, but at least for now sounds just like other Death Cab albums. I was hoping for a curve ball somewhere in there and as of current listenings I have yet to hear it.

Suggested Listening of 2008:
Portishead - Third
Vampire Weekend - s/t
M83 - Saturdays=Youth
No Age - Nouns
Los Campesinos - Hold On Now Youngster...
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant EP
Animal Collective - Water Curses EP

Battles played Astoria

It had been a while since I had seen a show so I was particularly excited tonight when I went to see Battles. Mirrored was one of my favorite albums of last year so I couldn't wait to see these tracks live.
The opening acts were also something I was looking forward to seeing. British band Fuck Buttons opened the show and I must say these guys were as impressive as they could be considering the way in which these guys make music. There is only so much two guys mixing sonic sounds of swirling samples can accomplish in a live act, yet these guys were pretty good. They mixed stuff up and had some really killer beats that got the crowd moving. Overall I was left with the same feeling I get off their record. These guys build some killer sound, but it doesn't seem to go anyway. I keep waiting for it to peak and it never quite does. Still I was impressed with what I saw.
Originally Liars was supposed to take the second slot, but they had to back out in order to open for Radiohead. Instead they were replaced with Dirty Projectors, a band I knew nothing about. Even now after seeing them I'm not too sure what to think. I was not sure what I was supposed to walk away with afterwards. They had some great female harmonies, a eccentric drum with some really awesome beats, and a guitar player that jumped all over the stage. In the end I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to take away from the performance. It seemed as if too much was going on for me to really be able to take in the band as a whole.
When Battles took the stage I was in complete awe. Their recordings are such intricate works of art that I was unsure of how they would translate live, but I was anything but disappointed. They were one of the tightest bands I have ever seen and performed more like a well-oiled machine then a band. Just watching them was amazing let a lone the sounds they were producing. They started things off a little slowly, but eventually built things up and had the place rocking. From the time "Rainbow" came out of the speakers until the end the place didn't stop rocking.

Asterix est la

A while back a friend introduced me to this guy from France who was kinda big in the 80's and I've recently been listening to him again. The Plastic Bertrand had a minor hit in the U.S. with "Ca Plane Pour Moi" and his song "Stop ou Encore" was featured in the movie Three Kings. I think this is some classic material and this song is so good. I haven't been able to find an mp3 of this song so a youtube video will have to do.